Indentured Service Research Paper

During the 18th century, indentured servitude had become very common in British North America; this was one way many poor Europeans could come to America for a “better” life. In order to emigrate to the American colonies, they would sign long-term labor contracts, to pay off the debt they picked up when they wanted to come to the American colonies. The primary source, “Gottlieb Mittelberger on the Trade in Indentured Servants” is written by Mittelberger himself in 1750, who was an emigrant that arrived in British North America as an indentured servant. In this source, he explains the negatives of coming to British North America; the ups and downs he faced, for instance: the long and horrible voyage conditions, and the sale of human beings once they had landed.

Before the 1680's, indentured servitude was the primary source of labor in the newly developed colonies. There were

After slavery came to an end in the 1800s, the rise of a new source of labor that became known as indentured servitude began. Indentured servitude is a system of labor where people serve under a contract, to work for a certain number of years, with pay along with food and housing. As the Industrial Revolution continued to grow, the demand for cheap labor increased, and due to the abolishment of slavery, the request for a cheaper sources of labor also increased. Indentured servitude replaced slavery, behind the scenes it was technically slavery. Although it was not referred to as slavery, indentured service was a resolution to the abolishment of slavery, where employers could get workers to sign a contract and have them agree to all their conditions. Is the end of slavery caused laborers to engage in various extreme conditions, the

In the middle colonies, a large part of the labor force consisted of indentured servants--men and women, but more often men, who would travel to the colonies to work under a contract for approximately four to seven years. However, according to “Indentured Servants in The U.S.”, “an indentured servant’s contract could be extended as punishment for breaking a law” such as running away or becoming pregnant, in a woman’s case. Throughout the time that they worked, the indentured servants were under the complete rule of their masters, but they were provided transportation/passage, food, clothing, and shelter. Indentured servants were a useful source of labor, but the problem was that it was only temporary, and after their contract ended, they had the option of continuing to work

Indentured servants and slaves were treated in broadly similar ways. They were both brought to the New World in horrible conditions with many dying along the way. They were both subject to physical

William Gunnell, Jr. travelled with his parents from their home in Great Britain to Virginia sometime before his tenth birthday in 1715. In Virginia, they became indentured servants for a man named Richard Lee. Following his master’s death, William’s indenture was inherited by Richard’s son. William worked for the Lee family for six years as a clerk, running errands and keeping the books. At the age of sixteen, William’s contract ended, and he became a free man (“Indentured Servants,” n.d., para. 4). This is one of the better examples of indentured servitude in the colonies, since most servants did not live to see the end of their contracts. In the colonies, indentured servitude acted as a kind of contract-based slavery in which free people were turned into property for a term of four to seven years, on average. Their owners paid for their food, clothing, and shelter on arrival in the colonies until the servants had completed their contract, upon which they were paid “freedom dues” which could be anything from tools, land, or even guns (“Indentured Servants,” n.d., para. 1).

Salinger, titled “Indentured Servants- Voyage, Sale, Service”, servants typically worked three to seven years in exchange for passage, room, board, clothing and freedom dues. But they also had to agree to leave their family and friends (Salinger 83). While the life of an indentured servant was harsh and restrictive, it wasn't slavery. There were laws that protected some of their rights. But their life was not an easy one and punishments existed. An indentured servant's contract could be extended as punishment for breaking a law, such as running away, or in the case of female servants, becoming pregnant. Additionally, the keepers had an option to blame the servants of doing wrong which led to a longer sentence (Salinger 94). If they decided to run away, then it would be too easy for others to spot due to their pigmentation of their

indentured servitude included a loss of freedom to make a beginning in America, and since the colonial period historians

Some of the indentured servants were Native Americans who were allowed to be indentured servants in exchange for converting their religion to christianity. Indentured Servitude was partly successful due to the headright system. The headright system allowed those who came to the New World, land. Now that many people who had emigrated to the colonies had land they wanted to make goods to sell. Most of the time this land was converted or used for farms.

This allowed the freed servants to be self sufficient, and in some cases, these servants would even hire their own indentured servants. However, when these dues were not sufficient and did not include land, some servants had no choice other than continue in servitude. As such, the “freedom dues” would directly affect the colonial economy, determining whether or not there would be additional land owners. The indentured servants would also prove to help the already existing landowners to gain more land. The head right system, implemented in southern colonies such as Virginia and Maryland, gave a landowner or planter 50 acres of land for each servant he paid for to come with him to live in that colony. Here, the indentured servants helped the economy by allowing landowners to expand their territory, and produce more goods/crops. While at work, the servants also had a major and direct effect on the economy. From the early 1600s to the early 1700s, indentured servants comprised the majority of labor on the plantations and farms of the colonies. Without the use of indentured servants, the colonial economy would have crashed, as there would have been no labor to work on the vast plantations. Until African slaves became a more cost-efficient option for colonial landowners, the use of indentured servants was a very much viable alternative.

During the 1600s Europe was absorbed in the Thirty Year’s War, which depressed the economy at the time. Many young males skilled and unskilled were looking for work. These young men had hoped that there might be some prosperity in the New World. These young teenage men were eager for a grand opportunity in Virginia. However, these new young immigrants coming over to the American colonies would be considered as indentured servants. In the textbook, “American Stories A History of the United States” mentions that, “In exchange for transportation across the Atlantic, they agreed to serve the master for a stated number of years” (Brands et al. 37). These young male indentured servants were in their early twenties. Skilled indentured servants often work for four or

Indentured were an American advancement with English roots. The considered serving for a period of years had for some time been a bit of apprenticeships; after 1563, English law had required about all remuneration specialists to diminish by the year. In both cases, masters acknowledged just about add up to control over their workers: they could set them to a collection of endeavors and repel them physically moreover expected to sustain and house them.

From the outset, the issue of labor in the Chesapeake was a dominant force in the creation of colonial society. The origins of colonial labor rested on the shoulders of indentured servants, often unemployed laborers from England sent to the colony by the Virginia Company. After serving a term of seven years, each servant was then entitled to freedom and the opportunity to work in the colony to best achieve individual benefits and the success offered by the New World. The early generations of these servants turned freemen posed little problem to their former masters as they constituted to small a segment of the population to

Indentured servitude first came to exist in the United States in 1620. This system provided incentives for both the master and servant to increase the working population of the new colonies formed in the New Word. This system seemed to benefit the servant as well. Each indentured servant would have their fare across the Atlantic paid in full by their master. A contract was written that ensure the length of service which was typically five years. The servant would be supplied room and board while working in the master 's fields. Upon completion of the contract, the servant would receive "freedom dues," a pre-arranged termination bonus. This could include land, money, a gun, clothes or food.

Indentured servants and convicts were significant for labor in the beginning of American colonialism. Indentured were immigrants from Europe who is bound to contract to work for a particular time depending on the amount of debt before they are free. Indentured usually are sold to the third party through trading business. The King at that time would send thousands of English criminals to the colonies so that they can help increase the labor. Gottlieb Mittelberger wrote about his experiences being on the voyage together with the indentured servants to Pennsylvania. Each person was given a very tiny space despite the overcrowded ship. Many of them suffered from hunger, not to